Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice. Now this week, we are talking to those of you who feel like it’s tough to get in those cardio workouts. You can hit the weights, but as far as getting in cardio, you don’t like it that much. Here are three tips to help you consistently get in cardio.
1) Get In Cardio As A Family During Family Time
Exercise Tip Number One To Help You Get In Cardio: Get in cardio when it is family time. You may be used to prioritizing your kids or your spouse and making sure they get to the activities they are doing, but guess what? A lot of times there are opportunities for you to get your own cardio workouts in when you are hanging out outside as a family or waiting for your kids to finish sports practice. So, regardless of where you are as a family, find moment when you aren’t in demand when you can get your heart rate up.
Action Step: Review you daily and weekly calendar and figure out when you have something scheduled but aren’t in demand, such as sports practices. Plan to get a workout in for yourself during this time!
Related: Tips for the 20-minute workout
2) Utilize Circuit Training
Exercise Tip Number Two To Help You Get In Cardio: Utilize circuit training. When you go to the gym to lift weights, instead of staying on one machine and doing all of your sets of that exercise and then move on to the next machine and exercise, pair two or more exercises together and go back and forth between them with little to no rest. This is a simple way to get your heart rate up and get you breathing harder during your resistance training workouts.
Action Step: Interested in a customized workout plan to help you get in resistance training and cardio work? Check out our Virtual Membership Program!
Related: 3 Considerations When Doing Cardio
3) Use Your Breaks At Work
Exercise Tip Number Three To Help You Get In Cardio: Use your breaks at work to get in cardio. One of our favorite times at MAS to get in cardio, especially during the summer, is to use part of our lunch hour to take a nice walk outside. If you are in a big office building, you can get creative and power walk throughout the building or even up and down the stairs. Not only is it great for your body to get up and moving throughout the day, but your brain will experience a boost, as well!
Action Step: Plan on taking 20 minutes during your lunch hour each day for the rest of the week to go for a walk. You don’t need to set aside 60 minutes to get in cardio. There are tremendous benefits to be had from simply moving for 15-30 minutes at a time throughout the day.
